After the Game
by Scarlet Warhawk
Summary: The Game is finally over. Shibuya is still standing. The only thing that is different in the city of constant change is four teenagers, with eyes that have seen too much, and hearts that have yet to heal. This is their story. (A collection of one-shots taking place after the Reaper's game.)
1. Chapter 1 (Accident)

**Title: _'After the Game'_**

 **Description: _The Game is finally over. Shibuya is still standing. The only thing that is different in the city of constant change is four teenagers, with eyes that have seen too much, and hearts that have yet to heal. This is their story. (A collection of one-shots taking place after the Reaper's game.)_**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – 'Accident'**

"Mom! I'm home!"

Haruto Sakuraba looked up from the cutting board as her son's voice called out. Setting down the knife carefully and shaking a few flaky pieces of onion peel off of her apron, the fourty-three year-old woman rinsed off her hands before brushing back a few russet strands from her eyes. There had been a time that her hair had been a bright, violent orange, but now it was dulled and faded from age and the stresses of life, streaks of grey showing up here and there, more frequently with each passing year, it seemed. Making her way out of the kitchen, Haruto was–not for the first time in the past week–forced to quell the small gasp that threatened to escape at the sight of her boy.

Her little Neku, who once hid his scowl behind a high collar, shadowed his piercing, slate-blue orbs under low-hanging bangs, and drowning out the world with his treasured headphones. Her little Neku, standing there now with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder his face relaxed into a absent neutral expression, headphones pulled back around his neck, and chin tilted higher, as if to face the world head-on with steady eyes.

"Is dad coming back from work late again?" He asked with a hint of disappointment as his sweeping gaze landed on the dinner table, set for two with a vacant space where a third plate should have rested. Haruto stood there quietly, still watching the young man who used to be like a stranger living under the same roof, blending into the background and vanishing for hours on end to go to his murals in Udagawa and simply stand there, staring silently.

"One of your father's coworkers recently passed away, so he's having to deal with backlogged work since several others are taking time off to mourn." He nodded slowly, and–for the briefest of instants–Haruto saw her son's eyes flicker with a multitude of emotions, gone by so quickly she couldn't pick any of them out. He had not been the same when confronted with death, ever since...

"He's been out busy a lot since the accident."

The woman's heart twisted painfully with the memory. The accident. The day he had vanished after school–the way he always did–and did not come back home. The first place she had searched was Udagawa, by the mural. She remembered seeing a splatter of blood and seven bullets in the dying light, right beneath the painted cat.

 _'There,'_ it had seemed to say with that twisted expression that was neither laugh nor frown. _'Your child was there._ _'_

Then came the news.

 _'Collapsed in the middle of the scramble,'_ was what she was told. _'Freak seizure, brought on by stress.'_ She didn't believe it for an instant. Haruto Sakuraba was not stupid. They said no one had seen him fall, but such an occurrence was impossible in the scramble crossing, right in the heart of Shibuya where thousands of people traveled every day. No, when she had visited him in the hospital, she was met with a lanky doctor with pale blond curls and a smile that never felt more than skin-deep. Kiryu, he said his name was. He had been so very kind in explaining that Neku had fallen into a coma, and that he was very close to death. Almost anything could finish him off. Patiently, he had answered her every question.

 _"Is there anything I can do for him?"_ She remembered asking. _"I don't want him to have to fight this alone."_ At that, Dr. Kiryu had smiled, this time with genuine humor, and told her, very reassuringly,

 _"Oh, there's no need to worry, Ma'am. He_ won't _be fighting alone."_ And Haruto had the strangest impression that he wasn't talking about either of them. She asked to hold Neku's hand, and he said he could allow that for a short time. After that, he asked her if she had any more questions. She had only one.

 _"Why are you lying to me?"_ She said, the cold sensation of her little boy's hand still lingering, the lack of any pulse shaking her down to the core.

Dr. Kiryu gave her a kind smile, and said that he had no idea what she meant.

 _"Don't screw with me, Kiryu,"_ she bit back angrily, before storming from the room.

The next three weeks made it feel as if the world had lost it's colour. Always, she would make her way to Udagawa, right when Neku would have gone after school. She never saw either the blood or the bullets again, but the cat still seemed to point to where they had been, the expression seeming more like an ugly scream, as if it were sharing in her anguish. It was as if it knew what was happening to her son, but was unable to reach out and tell her, frozen in stone and garish paint as it was. A week passed, and it seemed that he might be recovering. He stirred with tiny movements, and, the one time she was admitted to visit him, she could have sworn he mouthed out a name–she thought it could have been a girl's–arm tensing as if to reach out, even from beyond whatever deathlike state he was trapped behind, but then it slackened again, and a single tear trickled down his cheek. The next day saw him falling further than ever before; so far that the doctors were unsure if he would ever recover. But he stabilized, and seemed to be recovering over the course of the second week, and, though the third week saw his vitals dip again, they only redoubled from there, growing stronger and stronger, until finally, on the twenty-second day, the news came.

They told her he'd woken in the night, slipped out of the hospital, and collapsed–yet again–in the scramble crossing. And Haruto Sakuraba believed them this time. Because the thing she wanted more than the truth was _her son_. She had wept with joy and relief, and yet not all was as it had been. The Neku that had woken from the hospital bed was not the one from before the accident.

"Mom...?" Haruto was brought back from her thoughts as she felt her son pull her into a tight embrace, clutching desperately at her with arms that were too thin and yet too muscled for a boy that had spent a month comatose;as if he was afraid a passing wind might whisk him away. She felt him tremble and realized he was crying, sobbing silently into her shoulder–something little Neku hadn't done since he was four, and, for a moment she felt apprehension and a crippling sense of unfamiliarity as the boy that she should know better than he did himself made an unspoken plea for acceptance. Then the moment was gone, and Haruto Sakuraba wrapped her arms around her son protectively, because _she was his mother, dammit._ And _he was her son._


	2. Chapter 2 (Blood Money)

**Title:** ** _'After the Game – '_**

 **Description:** ** _The Game is finally over. Shibuya is still standing. The only thing that is different in the city of constant change is four teenagers, with eyes that have seen too much, and hearts that have yet to heal. This is their story. (A collection of one-shots taking place after the Reaper's game.)_**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The World Ends With You**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – 'Blood Money'**

"That'll be 420 yen, please."

Neku counted out the coins from his wallet, depositing them into the cashier's outstretched hand as she slid his cup of minestrone over in exchange with a giggle and a light blush dusting her face. Accepting the warm tub of vegetable soup from her with a warm smile, the teenager made his way out of the Sunshine Stationside, a happy grin on his face, well-used headphones bobbing around his neck. He had developed a taste for the stuff from his time in the game. At the time, appreciating it's rich, salty contours had not been something he'd been able to do, as he usually elected to eat it as quickly as he could–often regardless of how badly the odd, over-heated cup scalded his throat–as something to keep himself and his partner running as they sprinted from one side of Shibuya to the other and back again, fending off attacks from the Noise every step of the way.

Now, however, he no longer had to worry about the next ambush being his last, or solving the Grim Heaper's increasingly convoluted mathematical riddles whilst blocking out his partner's asinine comments, or wading through the endless sea of manipulations and plotting that was the politics of the dead. He had his life back–a second chance that he had fought tooth and nail for–and like hell was he was going to throw this one away, too. Continuing on down his daily route, Neku strolled down the street towards the bus stop.

After a few minutes of waiting, and finishing his soup, he boarded his ride to school. Nodding a 'thank you' to the driver, he fished out the ¥100 fare, and sat down towards the back of the bus, content to watch the city he'd become so intimately familiar with go by. His thoughts drifted back to the game–as they always seemed to, these days–before he decided to take his mind off that perilous track to think about his future. _'_ _What am I going to do with my life after school?'_ he wondered to himself. _'L_ _eaving Shibuya's out of the_ question,' he decided immediately. _'At least for the foreseeable future, anyways... There are still too many_ _memories and too many connections.'_ For better or for worse, the city had become a permanent part of him, and one that he wasn't sure he could cope with losing, broken and healing as he was. _'Well, at least that narrows down my options,'_ the orange-haired teen mused. _'So then, what? College? Most of the stores know me pretty well: I could probably get a part-time job.'_ He tried to imagine that; himself as one of the many colourful shopkeepers that dotted Shibuya. It was hard to picture.

As the bus reached his stop, Neku hopped off and began the short walk to his school. As he walked, he decided he might as well start saving up for college, if only to leave himself options for later. Flipping open his phone to check the time, he figured he still had a bit to wait before class, so what the hell–he might as well check how much he had on him. When he reached his high school, he sat down at a table, set down his things, and pulled out his wallet. As he reached forwards to unzip it, however, he noticed something that stopped him cold. He had been half-expected to see the cheap-but well-made little nylon wallet his father had given him for his fourteenth birthday. Instead, sitting almost innocuously in the palm of his hand, was his _other_ wallet.

The one he had purchased whilst playing the game.

The one made of cream-coloured snakeskin, and lined with rich, deep brown silk, which, even after a week of him using it absentmindedly, was still bulging with the amount of bills and coins stuffed into its almost criminally expensive-looking recesses.

Hands shaking, Neku opened it and began counting.

¥1...

¥6...

¥489...

¥3,867...

...

The now pale-faced orange-haired teen stopped abruptly, setting down the still-overstuffed wallet. He waited a moment, slapped himself in the face a few times, and then began again...

...

...

...

...

¥995,463. Neku exhaled and began putting the money back into the finally-emptied wallet. Cursing lightly as he realized he had missed the bell, he finished hurriedly stuffing the cash in, and upon closing it, went to return it to his bag. While doing so, he felt his hand brush several _somethings_ , which called back one series of memories in particular...

* * *

 _[Shibu Department Store/Week 2, Day 4]_

 _"Neku, are you_ sure _you need another one_ _? I mean, I understand being prepared, but this...this just seems a little silly, doesn't it?"_ _The cobalt-blue-and-white-clad teen readjusted his headphones in a somewhat embarrassed manner,_

 _"Bite me," he_ _snapped back at his partner, who was looking with something like amused bewilderment on as the orangette made his purchase of a SECOND Fat Cat Wallet. "Last week, there was more than one time we ended up running on fumes because we had to splurge on pins, with not enough left for food–if it happens now, we won't lose yen." Joshua just shrugged._

 _"Well, in that case..." he strolled up to the cashier–who was still staring in shock at the boy who hadn't just bought an obscenely expensive snakeskin wallet, he'd bought TWO–and cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him._

 _"C-can I help y-you with anything, young man?" she stammered, trying to compose herself. Joshua then presented her with a fat stack of bills and a charming smile._

 _"I think I'll follow my friend's example and take a pair for myself as well." The cashier was silent for a moment. Then she just nodded weakly and walked in a daze to the back, retrieving the merchandise and accepting the money. The pair then left the store._

 _"Care to explain to me what THAT was all ab-" Neku started, raising an eyebrow with a suspicious frown on his face, before he was cut off as Joshua tossed the new wallets to him._

 _"Here," he said, turning around and giving his partner a smug look of satisfaction. "You can be the treasurer. I think the part suits you, however much I'd personally_ prefer _you being my secretary." The look turned into a teasing grin. "Mmmm... I can just imagine you in those glasses, the little skirt, and–" he, too was in turn cut off, jumping back as Neku launched a vicious swing at the smug boy's head. "Now, now, Neku... is that any way to treat your partner? Especially when they've just bought you a present..."_

 _"...go to hell..." Neku growled in return._

* * *

Neku sat back down, propping one arm on the table to steady himself, as his balance seemed a bit skewed as of the moment. Peering into his bag, he affirmed that, yes, the other three Fat Cat Wallets were there, each just as full as the first. Swallowing, he rummaged around for any more _surprises_ , and found his hand close around something large and bulky. Curious, he reached in to pull it out, then immediately dropped it as if it had burned him as soon as he caught a glimpse of it. Now, with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, Neku recalled the origins of the last item in his backpack.

* * *

 _[Week 3,Day 2]_

 _Exhaling relaxedly as he stepped into the cool, climate-controlled Bel Airplane, the dead boy's eyes swept back and forth across the immaculate store, before landing on the cashier. The woman–whose name, he had learned was May Kurokawa–was looking at him with a face that seemed to be a mix of apprehension and nervousness. (and also...that w-wasn't a blush, was it?!) He had asked Beat to wait outside to avoid him causing a stir while he shopped, a choice which Neku had definitely thought to be a smart move, given all of the delicate, easily-breakable finery. Strolling straight up to the counter, he spoke._

 _"Do you, by chance, carry any other models of wallets here?" he asked, almost laughing as she paled and gave a weak smile._

 _"I-I'm dreadfully sorry, sir, but we only carry the one..." she replied apologetically. He 'hmm'ed thoughtfully, and started to turn towards the door. He stopped midway as he heard Ms. Kurokawa speak up from behind him._

 _"Oh, but we did just receive a new selection of suits!" came the hopeful call. "Perhaps you would like one for your companion?" Neku was about to ask how in the world the well-dressed shop owner could possibly imagine putting_ Beat _into anything remotely approaching formalwear, when he caught sight of the specific article she held._

 _It was a suit, all right, a deep turquoise affair with pale olive accents–precisely what tipped him off to whom she was referring. The realization hit him like a shot to the stomach._

 _Flashes of blurry images raced before the teenager's eyes; a coy smile, the demented laughter of a cornered madman, the phantom sensation of a hand on his chest, shoving him back, and the sight of lone figure with arms outstretched, silhouetted against an onrushing wall of all-consuming light. It was a moment forever burned into his memory._

 _'Joshua...'_

 _He managed to choke out a quick "No, th-thank you," before he beat a hasty retreat._

 _"So, how'd it go?" Neku could almost scream in relief. Occupying his mind with having to do the thinking for two people was exactly what he needed right now._

 _"They didn't have it," he answered quickly, remembering his reasons for coming in the first place. With more and more powerful Noise appearing, the duo were finding it necessary to outfit themselves with higher and higher quality threads and accessories. 'If clothes in the RG worked like this,' Neku thought. 'I'd pay so much more attention to what I wore.' Unfortunately, higher quality meant higher prices, and Neku wasn't able to keep that much money on him, even with his four wallets. Not for lack of supply, of course–as the stronger Noise meant higher rewards upon their expiration–but because the yen-pins that they dissolved into would fade if he tried to pick up more than a certain amount._

 _His more muscular partner shrugged unconcernedly and said, "Well, if I was you, I'd just put the cash in a big bag or sumthin'." The orangette shot him a look._

 _"I'm not going to go walking into some shop with a sack over my shoulder; they'd probably think I was some kind of wannabe robber."_ _Beat leaned back and raised his hands in a 'slow down' gesture._

 _"Naw, that's easy! Jus' put the money in the sack, and put it in the wallets when you buy stuff!" Neku opened his mouth to point out the obvious logical flaws in the skateboarder's suggestion, then closed his mouth, stunned silent._

 _"That's... actually a good point..." Beat began puffing out his chest with pride, prompting the introverted boy to grumble into his collar. "I'm going to regret saying that. Come on, big guy. Let's just find a bag to use."_

 _"Ooh! I know a place!"_

 _"How would you–? Never mind, let's just go..."_

 _"Well, it was like this, you see. I was 'boarding along one day and I found myself-"_

 _"Dammit, Beat!"_

* * *

Neku felt the world start spinning around him. He double-checked his bag, then triple-checked it. Yep. It was the same enormous sack, and it was absolutely stuffed to the gunwales. He took deep breaths as his mind reeled, trying to process the new information it was receiving. As he recalled the hordes and hordes and hordes of every kind of Noise imaginable he had slain, he reached a critical truth.

He was loaded.

Not, 'Wow-I-found-a-thousand-yen-in-the-gutter' loaded.

Not, 'This'll-go-a-long-way-to-paying-for-college' loaded.

Not, 'Let's-go-vacationing-to-somewhere-with-not-enough-vowels-in-its-name-for-a-week' loaded.

He, Neku Sakuraba, at the ripe old age of fifteen-and-some, was positively, set-for-life, never-have-to-work-again, Scrooge-McDuck-just-bought-out-Lex-Luthor, absolutely _loaded_.

And with that knowledge, the formerly-dead boy did what any other sane person would do.

He closed his bag, forcefully repressed his memories of the past ten minutes, and headed for class.

* * *

 **Hey, there! This chapter is substantially more light-hearted than the first, and the idea behind it is one that came to me just a day after I finished the first. When playing through TWEWY again after wiping my progress, I always notice something about the games: namely that grinding in them is A)Necessary, B)Not really ever that dull or boring, and C)Really, really rewarding. I was introduced through Kingdom Hearts, and first played the iOS port on my iPad, and was immediately hooked by the combat system. To me, I almost always played on the hardest setting I could, and absolutely delighted in struggling through a reduction-chain and finally seeing that end screen just fill up with all of that sweet loot. And, based on my take on Neku's character, he seems like the sort of kid who'd revel in the rush of life-or-death, and end up hoarding his money. The scene with Beat and the bag was an idea that my sister gave me, and seemed to click with Beat's hyperactively enthusiastic nature. (I'll hold the button!) The small, blink-and-you'll-miss-it line about the Bel Airplane shop owner is a reference to how, when you reach max friendship level with her, she develops a crush on Neku.**

 **Special Thanks:**

 **And now, like a bolt from the blue, I'd like to give credit where credit is due. (For helping me in bringing this fanfic to you.)**

 **\- Thanks to Guest for reviewing! To answer your question, I'm planning to make this a series of one-shots to update whenever inspiration hits.**

 **\- Thanks, gameprincezz for following this!**

 **\- To find the (absurd) amount of money that Neku has, I used numbeo dotcom to calculate average living expenses in Tokyo, Japan. (In case you were wondering, the amount is around ¥6,967,710,600, which is–I think–equivalent to $** **61,128,352.19 US dollars or £44,064,412.4080 British pounds.)**

 **\- The Shibuya City Office website gave me the ¥100 bus fare.**

 **\- And God bless the TWEWY wiki and the folks there for obvious reasons.**

 **If anyone wants to point out anything I miss about Shibuya, Japanese culture, TWEWY, or anything else, please PM me. Also, if you have an idea for another chapter, or if you want me to answer a question or give some feedback, feel free to drop a review or shoot me a PM.**

 **Until next time, ciao~!**

 **\- Scarlet Warhawk**

 **.com**


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